suicide intent scale

One night…I went down alone to the beach with my thoughts full of death. I took off my clothes and began swimming out to sea. Did I really intend to drown myself? That certainly was in my mind and I left a note with my clothes, the quotation from Euripedes about the sea which washes away all human ills. I went to the trouble of verifying it, accents and all, from the school text…At my present age I cannot tell you how much real despair and act of will, how much play-acting, prompted the excursion.

The suicide intent scale was developed by Aaron T. Beck and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania for use with patients who attempt suicide but survive. It is important to understand a patient's will to die in order to assess the severity of the suicide attempt. Some attempted suicides are carried out with little to no intention of cessation of life, while others clearly have no other goal. The suicide intent scale is an attempt to redefine the meaning of attempted suicide, placing them on a scale based on intent.

Another factor that plays an important role, but is not listed on the scale below, includes the chosen method of attempted death. Hangings and firearms is clearly more effective tools of suicide, the damages much more difficult to reverse. Suicide by poisoning, on the other hand, is less likely to be successful. This, however, is not the case in less developed nations, where access to emergency treatment is less possible and there is greater access to more deadly poisons such as pesticides. These factors must be also taken into consideration.